'India favourite place to play cricket'

Nick Compton, who is the grandson of England great Denis Compton, has admitted cricket-mad India is his favourite destination to test his skills...

Sydney: Nick Compton, who is the grandson of England great Denis Compton, has admitted cricket-mad India is his favourite destination to test his skills, just like his legendary grandfather, after getting selected in national team's Test squad for their tour to the country.

While Denis made 78 Test appearances for England, scoring 5807 runs at an average of 50.06, and also played top-flight football for Arsenal, Compton junior has languished in a relative shadow for much of his career.

Compton, who has experience of Indian conditions from his time in the England Lions squad, can't wait to return to a cricket-mad country that was always one of his grandfather's favourite venues.

"For any aspiring international cricketer, going to India is a great opportunity," News.com.au quoted Compton, as saying to a British channel.

"It was my grandfather's favourite place to tour and I'm no different - I've been there five or six times and it's an amazing place," he added.

Compton has been battling to win a place in the England set-up for several years, and it seemed his chance had gone when he was overlooked earlier in the season despite scoring nearly 1000 runs before the end of May.

However, with Andrew Strauss retired and Ravi Bopara out of form, there were two places up for grabs on the India tour, and he finally made the grade.